Tragic Flaws2
by Aesop
Summary: Demona has a chance to learn about the children she never knew and to mend fences. Will she take it? Or will she repeat the mistakes of the past?


**TRAGIC FLAWS**

**Part 2**

By Aesop

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the characters from the Gargoyles TV show, or those introduced in the fic series 'Gargoyle Saga.' I'm using them without permission, but I earn no profit by writing this.

Goliath moved toward the castle wall with a determined stride.

"There isn't time," Elisa protested. "It's less than half-an-hour till dawn." Goliath stopped at the parapet, staring in the direction of Destine manor. Finally, he sighed and nodded. "I'll go later this morning. Bring him home."

"Demona is dangerous, even in human form."

"I can handle her, if it comes to that," Elisa assured him. "I don't like the idea of those two being alone together anymore than you do. But, Goliath, dragging him back here against his will isn't going to resolve this. He's still going to have questions, and he's still going to have issues with taking orders from you."

"I know," he gritted, "but his safety takes priority over his feelings. Who knows what she will do to him or what lies she will spin."

"He has questions about his mother, Goliath. Questions you haven't been willing to answer. Maybe just telling the twins everything, the good and the bad, will settle this. Sean's not just going to accept that you're doing what's best for him without some kind of explanation."

"I…" He pounded one massive fist on the parapet wall. Elisa didn't even flinch as the stone cracked. "I want them to be free of her, not corrupted by her lies and hatred."

"They grew up human. She's not going to be able to turn them against humanity. And once they know the whole truth, she won't be able to turn them against the clan."

"Bring him home, Elisa. Tell him-."

"_You_ need to tell him," she insisted. "It can't come from me, at least not all of it."

Hard as it was to admit, he'd handled the entire situation badly from the start. Elisa had tried to warn him, but firm in his belief that he knew what was best for the clan, he had not listened. Now, Sean might pay for that lapse in judgment. "I will tell them the whole story, tonight."

Elisa smiled. "And I'll see to it that they're both here to hear it." She turned and headed inside, making for the elevator. It wouldn't be easy retrieving the boy, but she would find a way. When, was the first question. What was the etiquette in such a situation? When was a good time to show up at someone's home and take their kid away from them? She had never worked a domestic violence case, not directly anyway, and had nothing to draw on. This wasn't a normal case, anyway.

There were officers experienced with removing children from potentially dangerous, if not outright abusive homes, but she couldn't involve anyone else or even ask advice. She would just have to play it by ear.

Her arrival, just before 9:00, was met with icy silence. There was no answer to her calls from the gate, and she wondered if Demona hadn't simply disconnected the buzzer. Taking out her cell phone, she dialed a number she had gotten from Owen.

"Who is it?" came the familiar, irritable voice.

"I'm not going anywhere, Demona, till I'm certain he's safe."

"Then you will be there until sunset when he is ready to leave. Do not think to call again or attempt to get inside. It would give me considerable pleasure to have you arrested for trespassing." Elisa scowled at the phone.

"How do I know he's safe? Let me speak to him."

"He's sleeping," she snapped. After a moment's consideration, she relented and provided more information. "He was injured while rescuing me from a group of gargoyle hunters last night. I've treated his wounds and he will make a full recovery, but he needs rest."

"Hunters? Canmore?"

"No, not Quarrymen either. A different group. Generic mercenaries in generic camouflage."

"Wonderful. Any idea who they were?"

"There was no time to question the survivors. I had to get Sean back here." Elisa winced at the word 'survivors,' but knew it wasn't the time to go into that. Instead, she considered the possibilities. Quarrymen didn't go in for anonymity, and the Canmores did their own hunting. This was disturbing news.

"How about a trade?"

"What?"

"Tell me everything that happened last night, and I'll tell you some things you really should know about Sean and his sister. There's some important background there if you want to be any part of his life."

"Why would I want that?" the immortal gargoyle growled.

"Why didn't you just leave him in the park, then?" she challenged. Her answer was a hiss of indrawn breath, the prelude to something that would probably rupture her eardrums. Elisa pressed on. "Sean was never adopted. He was bounced from one foster home to another."

"Your point?"

"It might be better if we talked face to face. This is going to be hard enough without doing it over the phone." There was no answer, and Elisa was beginning to wonder if that was the end of it, when the gate opened.

OOOOOOOOOO

Three men and two women sat in a small but well-appointed conference room. The man at the head of the table, who currently carried a driver's license identifying him as Edward Tate, shook his head. "It's been decided. There is no point in further discussion."

"He has served us well over the years," the man on his right pointed out.

"The quality of his service is not an issue, Maranno," a woman further down the table answered. "Neither is his loyalty. The plans he makes now do not serve our interests, and dissuading him would draw unwanted attention to the plan we have been cultivating in secret for over a century."

"Precisely," Tate nodded. "At this juncture, there can be no disruptions. No risks can be tolerated. Not if Human civilization is going to survive what's coming."

"So we remove him in favor of someone more controllable," Maranno nodded. "Agreed. What about his brother?"

"You must be joking," the other woman answered dryly.

"Not as his replacement. I meant what do we do about him? He's far too independent. Removing his brother will have consequences that may disrupt our plans."

"Full sanction," Tate answered without hesitation. "Take appropriate steps to ensure there are no loose ends. He's too close to our primary contingency for comfort."

OOOOOOOOOO

Bringing her car through the gate and up the drive, Elisa concentrated on laying out her strategy for the coming meeting. What to say to Demona, how to convince her that Sean would be better off without his mother in his life.

There were few rational arguments she could muster without insulting Demona, and that wouldn't help matters.

She was still puzzling over it when she reached the front of the mansion and parked. Getting out, she moved toward the door. Demona, in her human form of Dominique Destine, opened it before she could knock and gestured for her to follow.

The sitting room she was led to was comfortably furnished and lit primarily by candles. They sat, and Demona watched her expectantly, saying nothing.

"I know only the basics of your part in this, so I've had to speculate a bit. We know that Susan and Sean were abandoned as babies, probably by Sevarius or someone working directly for him. I don't think the people responsible for the twins intended them to live. He must have had his own reasons for keeping them alive. It's what happened next that we are sure of. Both of them were put into foster care. Susan was adopted while still a baby and only recently learned she was adopted. She's had a normal life with loving parents and would like nothing better than to go back to it.

"Sean is another matter." She sighed. "Sean got pretty much the worst deal that foster care can provide. He was bounced from one home to another; some of them were pretty bad. There were some who kept him around for the state money he brought in, but sent him away when they found out that it wasn't…" she grimaced, "profitable. Some were downright abusive. While he was never physically hurt, he saw pretty much the worst face of humanity. More than one of the group homes he stayed in was shut down by the state for one reason or another." Demona didn't respond to this, her expression barely changed, and Elisa supposed that none of this was terribly shocking to her. The immortal gargoyle's opinion of the Human race couldn't get much lower, she supposed.

"I'm no psychologist. I can't pretend to know what's going through his head. I have to think, though, that after so many years of not having a family, finding out that his biological mother is alive is going to start the kid thinking. He'll want to know all about you. He may have… in fact I'm almost sure he has expectations of home and family that you probably don't want to fill."

Demona didn't respond. She looked thoughtful, which worried Elisa. The detective could easily imagine her thinking up ways to turn the situation to her advantage. A little truth stretching, she decided, was warranted. "Sean is vulnerable right now, but he's also very angry. Angry with everyone, including you, I'll bet. We haven't gotten the kids to tell us all of what Sevarius told them. There's no telling what lies he's fed them. All we know is that neither Susan nor Sean trusts the clan entirely."

"How would you like to proceed?" Demona asked. Elisa suspected she was asking more out of curiosity than any desire to do what was best for Sean.

"The truth. All of it. Not just your version and not just the clan's version. They have to be told everything. Everyone made mistakes and bad choices. You think I don't know how stubborn Goliath can be? More than once I've wondered if his head stays stone at night." The words didn't come easily, but they did come. Demona was unimpressed.

"Fine words, but you don't believe them. All you want is to leave here with him, so you can take him back to the castle and poison his mind against me." Elisa opened her mouth to protest. "You are right about Goliath, though. Stubborn, sentimental fool that he is, he would have resisted the idea of telling the children anything about me, which is what lead to Sean seeking me out in the first place, isn't it? No one would speak to him about me and he grew so frustrated that he came to meet me himself. Isn't that how it went, detective?" Demona knew that was how it went. Angela had said as much during one of her visits, and knew they were coming to a crisis. At the time, she hadn't wanted to listen to what her daughter had to say about the children. It was a sore subject, and she had made that plain. Nevertheless, she had heard and remembered everything Angela had told her.

Elisa's silence seemed answer enough. "The boy will make his own decisions after he wakes up tonight. He is fully healed, but the process is exhausting. He should sleep for the rest of the day. Then, he can make his decision about where he wants to go."

"You know Goliath won't stand for that. He doesn't like the idea of you having any influence with Sean. I'd like to see a compromise. In my line of work, I see too many families torn apart by hasty actions or bad judgment. Think about what I said. Can you see another way of ending this without a fight? Sean doesn't need to see you and the clan at each others' throats, especially not over him."

Demona didn't respond. She knew the human woman was right, and she hated it, regardless of the fact that that outcome suited her. Part of her wanted to hang on to the boy just to spite the clan, but she knew that was foolish. Even though a compromise would best suit her tentative plans for Sean, her pride wouldn't allow her to simply concede, and doing so might have made Maza suspicious. She had to concede with ill grace. That part she wouldn't have to fake.

Galling though it was to admit, Maza had made several good points. What would Sean expect in a mother? Did she care what a human child wanted? Human. That was the key. No matter what he looked like, the boy was Human, and she wouldn't let what had been done to her put chains on her again. Useful though he might someday be, he was a reminder and a burden she didn't want. _So why did I save him?_ The ways in which he could be valuable had not been what was going through her mind when she brought him home.

Self-analysis never being one of her strong points; she shook off such thoughts. The best course at the moment was to keep her options open. "Will Goliath agree to your proposal, detective? I doubt that is what he had in mind when he sent you here."

"I can convince him. Goliath is stubborn, but he's fair."

A tacit agreement having been reached, the two began to discuss details.

OOOOOOOOOO

"He's coming, Goliath. Demona knows that it'll get ugly if she breaks her word."

"You shouldn't have left him in her care," Goliath fumed. "I thought you were going to bring him home."

"He'll be here, but Goliath, Demona has to have her say as well. Sean needs to know everything. That was the agreement. The agreement you and I made this morning. The whole truth, remember?"

"How much 'truth' do you suppose there will be in her words?"

Elisa sighed and shook her head. "I don't know. I hope she can-."

"Detective Maza?" Both started, as they hadn't heard Owen's approach. "Demona and Sean are approaching the castle. Security cameras picked them up a moment ago. They should be here soon."

"You gather the clan," Elisa told Goliath, "while I meet them." Elisa wasn't prepared to trust Goliath's temper at the moment, and she didn't want the meeting falling apart before it began. They went their separate ways, Elisa to the wall and Goliath to the TV room where Brooklyn and the kids were settling in to catch a favorite show before dinner.

Within 20 minutes, everyone was gathered in the dining hall. The clan greeted Demona cordially, if not with any particular warmth. Graeme and Ariana were the exceptions, smiling and treating her, as they always had, as a favorite aunt. Brooklyn kept an eye on them, but did not pull them away, glaring at the immortal female as he once might have.

Sean and Susan had greeted each other coolly. Susan wasn't ready to forgive her brother for running off and nearly getting himself killed, and Sean was still angry over what he perceived as her betrayal for not sharing his foul mood over their situation.

A long and somewhat heated discussion between Goliath, Brooklyn, and Sata had led to the agreement that all of the hatchlings needed to hear the story. Their father privately suspected that his kids would have snuck back to eavesdrop, anyway.

"We should get on with this." Hudson put an end to the awkward silence.

"Agreed," Demona nodded. "I think the children deserve the truth about humanity. The truth you have shield them from and blind yourselves to."

"It is your own misguided hatred that has always brought you to ruin, Demona," Goliath rumbled.

"Hunter was right about that," Lex put in. "You are your own worst enemy."

"There is some truth to that," Demona admitted, surprising them. "Too often, I have let the past color my perceptions and lead me to hasty conclusions. That does not mean that I am wrong. Far too often, my suspicions have been borne out. I have seen clans betrayed by those they trusted. I have seen our kind hunted like animals."

Sean and Susan shared a quick glance at this. They had been told they would hear the entire truth about their mother and the clan's history. Neither was sure they believed it. Sean especially had his doubts after the talk he'd had with Demona when he woke up.

"We should begin at the beginning," Goliath, put an end to further sniping. "The clan lived on the north west coast of Scotland in the 10th century. Castle Wyvern was shared by humans and gargoyles…"

He laid out the story of the Viking attack, of what he and Hudson had found when they went to chase down the raiders, and of what they found when they had returned the following night.

With the help of Hudson, Brooklyn, Broadway, and Lexington, he got the entire story out. All four of the hatchlings were on the edges of their seats, captivated by their elders' narrative, and eager to hear more.

"What is not clear," Goliath admitted, "is how exactly the castle was overcome, or what happened next." He actually had a pretty good idea, but nothing he could point to as proof. Demona's initial ravings, the night she had revealed her treachery were caught by a security camera, but there had been no audio pick up. Her actions spoke for themselves, but Demona could explain them away, he was sure. "The captain of the guard told me that he did what he did for the clan, that I was supposed to take the entire clan to frighten off the Vikings. No doubt that was meant to protect us while the castle was sacked. What I did not learn until much later, was that it had not been his plan." He turned to stare at Demona. "It was yours. Would you pick up the tale?"

Demona nodded, surprised that Goliath was holding back. She began. "It is true, the humans' treatment of the clan finally convinced me to take action on the clan's behalf, usurping the authority of the clan leader. I made a deal with the captain to get all of the gargoyles out of the castle. We both knew he would never support the plan so we acted on our own. The only real worry was the rookery, but it was well hidden, and the captain promised to draw attention away from it."

"What about the hatchlings, lass?" Hudson rumbled. "They could nay 'ave come with us. Was the captain to protect them as well?"

"They were to be hidden in the rookery as a precaution," Demona answered easily. "When it was safe, when the humans were all gone, we could have retrieved them." She shook her head, sadly. "We never got the chance." She fell silent a moment, considering how best to continue.

"When Goliath made the foolish decision to chase a Viking army with only Hudson for backup, we needed a new plan. I couldn't take the rest of the clan and go after Goliath. Too many knew his orders, and we would have caught up with him too soon if I had convinced them. The captain swore that he would protect the clan during the battle. In the end, I had to be satisfied with that. I spotted the Vikings moving toward the castle before dawn. We would be seen and followed if we'd tried to leave. I had to trust the Captain's promise." Her face darkened in anger she didn't have to feign. "He betrayed us."

"Whether he betrayed us, or merely failed," Goliath corrected, "is of little importance. It was your decision to betray the humans. It was your plan that brought us to ruin."

"I acted in the clan's defense," Demona insisted hotly. "The princess and her primary advisor hated us. Hated and feared us and I believe would have eventually destroyed us. How often did she call us 'beasts' to our faces? Someone had to act, and you were too blindly trusting to see what was in front of you!" Goliath's eyes glowed dimly and he began to retort.

"Enough," Hudson interrupted, noting the way the hatchlings were shifting nervously at the rising voices. "Let the lass finish her tale. This shouldn't degenerate into an argument."

Goliath nodded, taking visible hold on his temper. "Continue."

"I returned to the castle the following night to find our clan slaughtered and the humans gone. I found Goliath and the others stone at night and searched for a cause. It didn't take long. The Magus, Princess Katherine, and two other humans stealing our clan's eggs. I wanted to attack them then, to avenge our clan and take back our eggs, but the Magus gave me pause. Charging at them without a plan might have simply gotten me trapped in stone as well, and that would not have helped the eggs. Instead, I determined to follow them and strike at an opportune moment when I could take the wizard unawares." She looked down, feigning regret. "I failed in this. An opportunity did not arrive before dawn, and I could not find their trail the next night. I searched for years, but never found a trace of them." She looked to Angela with a mute apology in her eyes, before turning to Susan and Sean and drawing on what she knew of the boy's background. Angela and Maza had been most helpful in providing her with buttons to push. "What I did not know at the time was that Goliath had chosen to be frozen in stone. He asked the Magus to do this rather than stay to protect our clan's eggs. I would never have believed it had I learned it from anyone but Goliath."

"Wait a minute," Sean broke in, glaring at Goliath. "You just left them? Left the eggs with people who hated you?"

"The events of the night had shown both Katherine and the Magus how misguided-"

"They got a shock. That was no guarantee that they wouldn't go back to their old ways."

"But they didn't," Angela broke in. "Princess Katherine, Tom, and the Magus were like parents to us. They took care of us for years and still do."

"He had no way of knowing that they would." Sean insisted. "It was selfish." He looked at his mother. "At least you tried."

"Assuming she's telling the truth," Lexington snorted.

"Why would she lie?"

"Why would we?" Brooklyn countered reasonably. "Goliath made a decision, right or wrong, and he lives with the consequences. Demona has never admitted her responsibility in what happened to the clan. She just can't admit, even to herself, that she caused it."

Sean ignored him and kept glaring at Goliath. "You expect me to trust you? You dumped your own kids before they were even born by allowing yourself to be turned to stone! Why should I believe you want to help us if you weren't willing to help them?"

"You're not being fair, Sean. He was alone," Brooklyn pointed out.

"So was she," Susan broke in angrily. She wasn't sure what to make of all of this, and the arguing was upsetting her. Everyone was being stubborn and unfair to each other. Did Demona just make a tragic mistake? What had she done since then to make the other gargoyles distrust her so? "She didn't intend what happened to your clan. It wouldn't have happened if she hadn't done what she did, but she didn't mean for that to happen."

"Very true," Demona nodded, trying not to show her pleasure at Susan's support. That pleasure did not last long.

The girl looked at her hard. "You don't know that they would have turned on you," she snapped. "You have no proof. How do we know you didn't do it just out of spite over the way you were treated?" She turned to Sean, and with an effort got a grip on herself. "I want to see both sides of it, but there's so much we don't know."

"Like whether we can trust what Goliath is saying?" he retorted.

"Are you sure she's telling the truth?" Susan gestured to Demona.

"What about the eggs?"

"What about them? One gargoyle looking after… how many eggs? I think he did the best he could. You grew up in-"

"That's different!" Her brother glared at her, his hopes that his sister was seeing things his way, shattered. "Most of the kids in places where I've been to were orphans who had no one. The eggs were abandoned!" He turned back to Goliath. "You just got scared and dumped them when it suited you. How do I know you won't make the same decision again?"

"You certainly have no guarantee of that," Demona all but smirked.

"I have made mistakes," Goliath admitted. "The most recent and serious one has been in not telling you about your 'mother.' Clearly she has played on your discontent, fed you half truths in an effort to turn you against those who wish to protect you."

He sighed. "The sad fact is that she honestly believes what she is saying. Demona made a terrible mistake. In her own bigotry and anger, she caused our clan's destruction and she cannot face that. Over the centuries, she has allowed the past to color her judgment, leading her to repeat the same tragic mistakes, causing the destruction of at least one other clan."

"Centuries?" Susan blurted out. "You guys live that long?"

"No," Goliath responded. "Demona made a bargain with a Fay long ago and was made immortal." The twins gaped at him. "She did not tell you this?" He glanced at Sean. Sean looked at Demona questioningly. "While our clan slept, she wandered the world. There is no way of knowing what crimes against human and gargoyle she has committed in all that time. I doubt she-"

"Is it a crime to want our race to survive?" Demona snapped. "You insist on turning a blind eye to the hatred most humans feel for us, hatred these children will be subjected to. Yet you refuse to properly prepare them for it." She turned to Susan and Sean. "It is true, I did not tell you about the Fay's curse. It isn't something that can casually be worked into a conversation." She made an attempt at a self-deprecating smile. "My hatching day is coming up in three months. I will be 1,053 years old."

"That is kind of a conversation stopper," Brooklyn admitted.

Sean and Susan looked at each other, not knowing what to think of this. Sean wondered for the first time what else his mother hadn't told him, but it did little to assuage his anger over Goliath's behavior.

"There is a lot I haven't told you, Sean," Demona continued. "I've got 1,000 years worth of bad memories that I have no real desire to dredge up. I'll tell you everything if you like, but…it could take a while." Again she allowed a rueful smile.

"That's fair, I guess," he allowed, and then glanced at Goliath. "All right then, she's willing to be honest with us. Here's your chance... Is there anything you want to tell me, anything that you _neglected _to tell me and Susan when we first got here?"

"I have only acted in your best interests. I wanted to protect you from Demona. I realize now that telling you nothing about her was a mistake. I should have told you everything, the good and the bad." He paused, inexplicably reluctant to speak of his former mates betrayals, but, for the sake of the children, he pressed on. "There is much about Demona that you do not yet know. The crimes she has committed since our awakening in this century are numerous."

"How about the video that you used to spy on me and Susan?"

"What video? The tape Sevarius made? It was not we who were spying on you."

"You still watched it, and didn't tell us! You had no right to watch a private conversation between us!"

"That tape is evidence of a crime," Elisa said reasonably. "I'm a police officer. Goliath is your guardian." We were obligated to watch. Nothing on it has been made 'public knowledge,' whatever Demona may have told you."

"I don't believe you. You're the ones who are twisting things!" Having run out of logical arguments, Sean rose and stormed out. Susan jumped to her feet and followed, pausing only to give the clan leader an apologetic look.

"I'll try to calm him down."

Elisa sighed. "Well... that could have gone a whole lot better."

"He will calm down in time," Goliath turned to Demona, "and your lies and twisted truths will not stand. You have made enemies of friends and family too often. I only pray that you do not hurt the children with your spite when you do betray them."

"I was not the one who betrayed them this time, Goliath. You did that yourself. You betrayed their trust all by yourself."

He shook his head sadly. "You cannot even see the harm you are doing. Hasn't your blind hatred cost you enough? I would not see Sean and Susan hurt. Think of someone beside yourself for once, Demona, before it is too late."

Demona's eyes flashed red before she regained control of her temper. "Perhaps you should ask yourself, Goliath, are the children safe with you? Or better yet, are YOU safe with them? Angela told me what happened with Sean and the mugger in the park. If he can do that while he is still a child, then who knows what he'll be like when he grows up."

"All the more reason he needs proper guidance," Elisa retorted. "Something you can't provide." Goliath nodded in agreement.

"I will not let you turn him into a weapon in your senseless war against the humans."

Demona shook her head. "I don't wish to wage war. I wish our young to be safe, or at least able to defend themselves. You might have trained the hatchlings back at Wyvern, but Sean is nothing like an ordinary hatchling, and you know it. He already has strength twice that of a normal gargoyle his age, and twice the fury. I heard about his fight with Hudson. Could he have stopped the fight if he wanted to?" She looked to the former clan leader. "You could have been seriously hurt or killed if he had really lost control. We've had our differences, but I would not see that happen."

"Do you expect me to believe that you are a better choice simply because he cannot kill you?" Goliath demanded incredulously. "You are unfit to raise him. I will not allow you to make him your tool."

"Face it, Goliath," Demona insisted, ignoring his judgment on her fitness, "these children are far beyond anything you have ever trained. Far beyond anything you have ever faced before... But I have lived through a whole millennium of wars, magic, and countless battles. I don't expect you to like it, I just expect you to admit that you have no choice. See what is best for them. I can help Sean in ways that you cannot."

"This argument is pointless."

"What are you going to do? Clearly, your training has been ineffective. Will you carry on with these fruitless exercises of yours, and just hope that the next time you take him out on one of your stupid patrols, he doesn't kill someone or get himself killed?"

"You still do not listen," Goliath rumbled, finally losing patience. "You are unfit to raise them and this meeting is over. You will stay away from the hatchlings. Now go."

"Gladly!" She turned and began to make her way from the hall, leaving a stunned and angry clan in her wake. Brooklyn and Angela were watching her sadly while Broadway and Lexington glared. Hudson and Sata were hard to read, but Demona felt a twinge of guilt at the way Graeme and Ariana were sticking close to their mother's side and watching her with worried eyes.

She shook off her reservations and added a parting shot. "Just remember, Goliath. I didn't come to Sean; he came to me. If he did that once; he will most likely do it again."

THE END


End file.
